This is the album that solidified my long running admiration for ELP. I had heard bits and pieces of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's music from previous albums at a friend house but Brain Salad was the first ELP album I bought and had a chance to really listened to and listen I did. Over the next few days I must have listened to this album a dozen times. I couldn't get enough ELP and started buying anything I could get my hands on. Today I probably have more ELP music in my collection (including solo projects) than any other single artist. Brain Salad Surgery is the fourth studio release from the English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer released in November 1973 and features a mixture of rock and classical themes. Lyrics were co-written by Greg Lake and fellow ex-King Crimson member (and frequent ELP collaborator) Peter Sinfield. The album features cover art by surreal artist H. R. Giger.
"Jerusalem", an adaptation of Hubert Parry's hymn based on William Blake's poem "And did those feet in ancient time", was the only single, but it was not released in the UK due to objections from the BBC.
The instrumental "Toccata" is based on the Fourth Movement of Alberto Ginastera's 1st Piano Concerto, arranged by Keith Emerson with special synthesized effects; Carl Palmer wrote a percussion accompaniment using newly-developed drum synthesizers. Ginastera's agent apparently did not care for ELP's rendition and wasn't going to grant the publishing rights. Emerson, however, contacted Ginastera himself, who liked it and personally arranged for clearance. "Toccata" also gained fame as the theme to the New England cult TV show Creature Double Feature.
"Still... You Turn Me On" is one of the darkest and haunting songs on the album and one of the best.
"Benny The Bouncer" is my least favorite work on the album. To me it is just a short ragtime type song added to fill in space. Even with that being said, Keith Emerson's piano work on this song is amazing.
The album's longest composition, Karn Evil 9, which is nearly 30 minutes in length, consists of three movements or "impressions", the first and third separated by an extended instrumental passage. The most well-known section is "Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression, Part 2" (Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...). "Karn Evil 9" was so long that the first movement originally had to be split between sides 1 and 2 of the album. The original U.S. CD release also divided the piece, but subsequent releases have presented it in an uninterrupted version.[3]
"Karn Evil 9" includes vocal credit for Keith Emerson, and is Emerson's only official vocal credit on an ELP record, despite the fact that the only 'vocals' he contributed to the song were those of the computer voice in the Third Impression.
The album cover is considered one of the most memorable (and often disturbing) of its time. It features distinctive Giger monochromatic biomechanical artwork, integrating an industrial mechanism with a human skull and the new ELP logo (created by Giger). The lower part of the skull's face is covered by a circular "screen", which shows the mouth and lower face in its flesh-covered state. In the original LP release, the front cover was split in half down the center, except for the circular screen section (which was attached to the right half). Opening the halves revealed a painting of the complete face: a human female (modelled after Giger's wife[4]), with "alien" hair and multiple scars, including the infinity symbol and a scar from a frontal lobotomy. The two images of the woman are very similar, but the outer image (in the circle) contains what appears to be the top of a phallus below her chin, arising from the "ELP" column below (the second painting originally had the complete phallus, but this was removed at the insistence of the record company. The back cover was solid black with the album title in plain white lettering.
Track Listings
1. Jerusalem (2:44)
2. Toccata (7:23)
3. Still... You Turn Me On (2:53)
4. Benny The Bouncer (2:21)
5. Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 1) (8:44)
6. Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 2) (4:47)
7. Karn Evil 9 (2nd Impression) (7:07)
8. Karn Evil 9 (3rd Impression) (9:03)
Line-up/Musicians
- Keith Emerson / organ, piano, Harpsichord, accordion, Custom-built Moog synths, Moog polyphonic ensemble, vocals on "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 1)"
- Greg Lake / vocals, bass, Zemaitis electric 6-string and 12-string guitars
- Carl Palmer / drums, percussion, percussion synthesizers
- Produced By Greg Lake
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